Children’s Day in Sudan and South Sudan is celebrated annually on December 23. According to ancient tribal mythology, this is the birthday of Sudan’s “greatest child”. Originally, Children’s Day was celebrated in the Republic of Sudan. After South Sudan declared its independence in 2011, it borrowed the holiday.

In most countries, national Children’s Day is first and foremost the celebration of children’s rights aimed to raise awareness of challenges children around the globe face on a daily basis. Unfortunately, both Sudan and South Sudan are notorious for children’s rights violations, namely for allowing child marriage and using child soldiers.

Both Sudan and South Sudan allow child marriage. With the child marriage rate of 52%, South Sudan is one the countries with the highest observed rates of child marriages, alongside Niger, Chad, the Central African Republic, Bangladesh, Guinea, Mozambique, Burkina Faso and Malawi. A lot of girls here are married before the age of 15 and drop our of school as a result of marriage.

Recruitment of child soldiers has also been cited as a serious problem in both North and South Sudan. According to a UNICEF report, in 2008, about 6,000 child soldiers participated in the armed conflict in Darfur. In 2014 Navi Pillay, then the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, reported that over 9,000 child soldiers had been fighting in the civil war in South Sudan.

So, although North and South Sudan celebrate Children’s Day, the situation with children’s rights in these countries leaves much to be desired.